Brad Marchand: ‘We had a good opportunity and it slipped through our fingers’

Posted By
Mike Petraglia
On
June 26, 2013 @ 10:45 pm
In
General |
1 Comment

Brad Marchand[1] wasn’t hiding much on Wednesday during breakup day for the Bruins at TD Garden.

Marchand made it clear that he’s still pretty depressed about what happened on Monday night, when a 2-1 lead with less than 90 seconds left turned into a 3-2 loss in the matter of 17 seconds.

While there will be several veterans departing[2] (Andrew Ference[3], Jaromir Jagr, Jay Pandolfo), the core of a talented young team will remain intact. That was reassuring but only small consolation Wednesday.

“Well, it’s definitely a little reassuring that we know we could potentially have a good team,” Marchand began. “I mean, things always happen, trades and everything like that, but for the most part the foundation is there. But I don’t think it changes what happened, we had a good opportunity and it slipped through our fingers. That was a tough game to swallow.”

But with names like Tyler Seguin[4], Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski and Marchand himself, the team figures to make deep runs in the Cup playoffs a habit.

“I mean, you look at a lot of guys on our team are locked in here and they definitely did a great job of making sure were going to have a very good team for a while,” Marchand said. “And we’re very, very fortunate to be a part of this organization and this team. We definitely have a good group in here.”

With so much talk about injuries on Wednesday, did Marchand suffer any injury?

“Just my heart,” he quipped.

How is this year’s loss different that 2012 first-round exit to the Capitals?

“It’s definitely a lot better than losing in the first round, but it’s still disappointing,” Marchand said. “Whether you lose in the first round or the finals, you didn’t win. So it’s definitely different in ways where we made it here and had the opportunity but still didn’t win.”

Now Marchand and the Bruins begin a short summer break before September rolls around.

“It’s definitely going to be a little bit different,” he said. “We finished so late and we start a week early, so, I mean, were going to have to take a little bit less of a break and try to get back right into things quickly and get prepared for that training camp.”

Marchand was held without a point in the six games against Chicago and didn’t score a goal in the final eight games of the playoffs.

“They’re a good team,” Marchand said of the Blackhawks. “They were tough to play against, and things just didn’t go right. It would have been nice to contribute a little more.

“It was a different year. Missing up until Christmas time and coming back in, it was a different season. But you always want to try to improve in all areas of your game. I thought this year I was a little bit better defensively and tried to focus a little bit more on that, but definitely still areas to improve.”

[5] > Brad Marchand: ‘We had a good opportunity and it slipped through our fingers’" data-url="http://bigbadblog.weei.com/sports/boston/hockey/bruins/2013/06/26/brad-marchand-we-had-a-good-opportunity-and-it-slipped-through-our-fingers/">Tweet: http://twitter.com/share